recommendations

Video Picture Book Reviews By a Two-Year-Old

Last weekend I attended the RMC-SCBWI local conference. I can’t attend a children’s book conference without bringing home some books for myself–er, I mean my son. Jean Reidy’s All Through My Town has been a household favorite since before my son was one. I bought a second copy of that book for him and had it signed–I’ll be keeping that one safe as a keepsake, and he can continue to love our other copy to pieces. I also brought home Time Out for Monsters, which was new to him. My son is also a fan of Salina Yoon’s Penguin and Pinecone, so I couldn’t resist bringing home Penguin and Pumpkin.… Read the rest

Roundup #1! (Light and Round Project)

Welcome to the first weekly roundup of the Light and Round Project! If this is your first time hearing about it and you want to know more, visit last week’s post for a full explanation or click on “Light and Round Project” under my header. People, thank you for the warm response you’ve given this idea! This project is all about showcasing the diversity that can be found in books for teens today, and I think our first roundup does exactly that. I was surprised that I didn’t receive a single repeat suggestion–everyone suggested unique titles. Another testament to the variety of books being published today.… Read the rest

The Light and Round Project

There has been controversy rumbling this week in the young adult literature world. For those of you already following it, go ahead and skip down to the next paragraph to avoid the regurgitation. For those of you who aren’t, an “article” (really an opinion piece although it was never clearly labeled as such) was published in a major newspaper that denounced the current climate of YA fiction as being rife with explicit abuse, violence, and depravity, and suggested these topics are not appropriate for teenagers. I’m intentionally not linking to the original article because it’s been linked to enough already, and my personal annoyance with the piece was that the writer seemed to be more interested in drumming up attention and outrage than intelligent discussion about a topic she genuinely cares about (which she clearly did not or the article would have been better informed and researched).… Read the rest